LOS ANGELES (News4usonline) – The turnaround in Major League Baseball is quick. With 162 games on the docket for the regular season, major league players are going to have to go through a long grind. Determining who gets to play in the postseason is going to take a while. That includes the status of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Last season, the Dodgers fell short of reaching their expectations of a World Series run. The offseason came and cleaning house seemed to be in order considering the Dodgers had been predicted as frontrunners to be in a position to win multiple titles with an ace pitching lineup and a core of solid and spectacular hitters.
In three of the last four years, the Dodgers have won 100 games or more during the regular season. In 2022, the stakes were super high for the team as the Dodgers won a league-best 111 games.
That magical season came to an end when the Dodgers lost the National League Divisional Series to the San Diego Padres.
Justin Turner, Trea Turner, and Cody Bellinger, the heart of the Dodgers lineup, waved goodbye and moved on to other teams. This season is a new one in several ways for the Dodgers. While the team still has enough talent, the Dodgers are not odds-on favorites to win the World Series as they had been in the past.
But they still have talent. Manager Dave Roberts is still guiding the team. That’s a plus for the Dodgers. The revamped lineup might be some getting used to.
This season is off to a fresh start, and what we have seen during the Dodgers’ first homestand of the season is that they can still hit the ball pretty well as they split the first series of the regular season with the Arizona Diamondbacks. In the season opener, the Dodgers collected 12 hits on their way to an easy 8-2 win.
But then in game No. 2 of the regular season, the Dodgers got just five hits in a 2-1 defeat. Behind three home runs by Trayce Thompson, the Dodgers rebounded with a 10-1 win. Going on the road for a seven-game stretch away from home after entertaining the Colorado Rockies for two games, the bats of the Dodgers got quiet again in the fourth game against the Diamondbacks.
The Dodgers were held to another 2-1 defeat that was handed to them by the Diamondbacks after generating a grand total of four hits in the series finale. So, what does this all means when September rolls around? It’s too early to tell with the new-look Dodgers.
With Mookie Betts, Freddie Freeman, and Will Smith, the Dodgers are going to get their share of hits. Consistency in hitting and pitching depth might be a concern for the ballclub down the road. In their final game against the Diamondbacks, the Dodgers wasted a good outing by Noah Syndergaard, who pitched six innings and struck out six batters.
The Dodgers wound up with seven hits in total. Arizona, on the other hand, pumped out 11 hits. The two teams play again while the Dodgers are away from home with a four-game series April 6-9.
Dennis has covered and written about politics, crime, social justice, sports, and entertainment. Dennis currently covers the NFL, MLB, NBA, NCAA, and Olympic sports. Dennis is the editor of News4usonline.com and serves as the publisher of the Compton Bulletin newspaper. He earned a journalism degree from Howard University.